Most people have made the analogy of 'reaching' for a memory. It occurred to me one day that this idea is actually two part: there's the location of the memory (where it is being reached), and how much resistance is between the hand and the target.

As such, there seems to be two totally different skills related to memory: reaching in the right direction, and pushing hard enough; like finding the safe vs picking it open.

The goal of remembering is to acquire an idea, but there's a catch twenty two: you need to know where it is in order to know where to look. I think that most people just try to think 'harder' and give themselves headaches.

Temporal access patterns mean that older memories will be attached to other older memories, and lesser new memories. That means a longer distance if you think of memories as points on a node graph. E.g. the issue with remembering isn't actually the directional part, but the magnitude part: when the graph spirals out further from the present moment, it becomes less likely that shooting off in a single straight direction will reach anything.

I find that if I can't remember something, the trick is to pick a different search path. I think of a random idea, think about what it reminds me of (form new associations), then descend down each reminder (like branches in a tree). With practice, an intuition forms about memories that are related in 'straight lines'.

I find that sorting memories gives a lot of benefits, since it reduces the amount of conscious search effort. Simple rituals / triggers can be used to access categories of memories, each of which are actively related to each other through the use of analogies. It a bit hard though, since the node graph's edges only flow in one direction.

It makes it much easier to do thing like math because the routes are optimized. I get tired slower by travelling more distance on paths with less resistance. And I optimize to reduce distance, further reducing load.

Do any of you have your own memory techniques? Comments on further theory / analogies?

The ability to think can be corroded. The thoughts themselves never break down.Occult as in hidden, not conspiracy. I'm Paper Mario, asking the cubes to do things.